Buckle.



C. E. MIXER.

BUCKLE'.

APPLIOATION FILED 111111.11, 1912. RENEWBD SEPT. 27, 1913.

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/////////////////////// f ff/f4 ran stares PATENT ernten.

CHARLES E. MIXER, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO REXIM FASTENER COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMAINE.

BUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 6, 1912, Serial No. 681,303.

Patented May 5, 11914. Renewed September 27, 1913. Serial No. 792,111.

To all 207mm t may concern.'

Be it known -that I, CHARLES E. MIXER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to buckles which are used for wearing apparel, and the essential feature of the device is the format-ion of one of the gripping elements whereby the fabric to be gripped will be securely held without any liability of becoming loosened. This gripping element cooperates with a smooth plate, and its gripping edge is preferably convexed and free from prongs or projections .which might tear or injure the fabric which is gripped.

Of the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form in which the invention may be embodied,-Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the device in closed position with a garment strap in position to be inserted. Fig. 2 represents a section therethrough, as indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of the base-plate of the device. Fig. 11 represents a hinge member whereby the movable gripping member is mounted. Fig. 5 represents a per` spective view of the movable gripping meinber. Fig. 6 represents a cross section of a garment strap made of pieces whose edges are doubled, see line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7,

represents a longitudinal vertical section of the buckle closed with a strap clampedv therein.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur. n

The device comprises a base-plate 10, a movable gripping member 11, and a connecting member 12 .whereby the member 11 is' mounted in hinged relation to the base-plate. The base-plate preferably consists of a flat plate formed with means such as a slot or opening 18 whereby may be anchored to a suitable part of the article of wearing apparel, such as that indicated at X. Portions 14., 111 of the base-plate are depressed below the plane of the rest of the plate in order to form a. hinge knuckle or bearing through which the connecting member 12 may be inserted in the relation shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The side edges of the base-plate are formed with notches 15, 15 for the reception of the upstanding member 12.

rlhe member' 12, the body of which is located in the bearing 14 and which is rectangular, is formed of a piece of wire, the ends 17 of which are bent toward each other and constitute hinge pintles upon which the movable gripping member 11 is mounted.

The member 11 consists of a plate bent to an angle to provide a short arm or lip 18, the work-engaging edge of which, as indicated at 19, is convexed for a purpose hereinafter explained and a long arm upwardly curved at its end by which it may be manipulated. The edge 19 is smooth and unbroken. The arm or lip 18 is formed between two hinge portions or knuckles 20, located in the rentrant angle formed by the two arms, and upon the outer side of each knuckle is a shoulder or projection 21. The pintle portions 17 of the connecting member are inserted in the bearing formed by the knuckles or hinge portions 20 as shown by Figs. 1 and 2. The shoulders 21 are adapted to engage the upstanding sides 16 of the connecting member when the buckle is open and thus limit the opening movement. In the present instance, the shoulders are so formed as to limit the opening' movement to approximately 90 degrees of a circle; but the projections may be bent to increase or decrease the maximum movement, as desired.

For thesake of simplicity of construction, the plate 10 is, as previously stated, preferably flat. In consequence of this formation, the edge 19 is preferably convexed, as before indicated, the purpose being to leave less .space between the middle of the lip and the middle of the plate than at the sides. A buckle of this character is espe cially adapted for holding a strap formed of leather, a woven fabric or other material, such as that indicated at X. Buckles hitherto used for this purpose have been provided with spurs or pointed projections instead of the convexed edge 19 for the purpose of holding the strap so that it may not be withdrawn when the buckle is closed. A serious objection to spurs is that they tear or otherwise injure the fabric, and oftentimes the fabric becomes caught upon them when the buckle is open, becoming torn when tension is applied to withdraw the strap.

portions 16 of the connecting The base-plate 10 is preferably made of thin sheet metal which may be flexed without excessive pressure. New, therefore, when the buckle is closed upon a strap of uniform thickness, the greatest gripping action will be exerted in the middle, and the base-plate will thereby be flexed so that its middle portion will be depressed slightly. Flexure of the base-plate enables the sides of the lip 18 to exert a gripping action. The curvature given to the base-plate will not, oi'' course, be as great as the curvature ot the edge 19, but it will be suiiicient to enable the lip to grip throughout substantially all the length of the edge 19o The curvature of the edge 19 has an additional advantage. Garment straps are usually thicker at the side edges than in the middle, because of the fact that the side edges are turned in and the thickness is thereby doubled. The curvature of theedge 19 therefore compensates for the unequal 'thickness of the strap and tends to equalize the gripping action throughout the width of the strap.

The notches 15, 15 and the bearings 1a, 14 provide 'for a slight tilting movement bodily of the member 1Q relatively to the base-plate, which facilitates the closing and opening movement of the member 11 by reducing the slipping et the strap upon the plate 10, the pintles 17 and knuckles 20 at such times having` a bodily movement longitudinally of the base-plate about the more limited hinge connection between the member 12 and plate 10. This movement of the portions 17 and 2O carries them across a line which intersects the edge 19 and that portion of the member 12 which extends under the plate 10. The action is that ot a toggle, the intermediate pivot of which is stationary while one of the outer aivots passes across the line which intersects the intermediate pivot and the other1 outer pivot. When the straps X and X are under tension, the grip of the edge 19 is increased because such tension tilts the connecting member 12 to the position shown by Fig. 7. The hinge portions 17 and 20 are carried toward the base-plate partly by the bodily tilting of the connecting' member and partly by lexure of the portions 1G thereof. Thus the free end of the member 11 is drawn against the strap to assist the edge 19 in clamping the strap against the base-plate which is long enough for this purpose.

1. A buckle comprising a base-plate having hinge knuckles or bearings on its under side, a loop extending above the upper side of the base-plate and pivoted to said knuckles or bearings, and a member bent at an angle to provide an arm having an edge to clamp a strap against the base-plate and an arm by which it may be manipulated, said last-mentioned member having hinge knuckles at its angle to receive the loop and permit said member to be swung therearound, means being provided for limiting the pivotal movement of said loop.

2. fr buckle comprising an elongated substantially flat base-plate, a cooperating clamping member bent at substantially a right angle to provide two arms, ot which one has an unbroken transversely extended convex edge to clamp a strap against the base plate, and a loop connected to the base-plate between the ends thereotv and pivotally connected to the clamping member at its angle, whereby said clamping member may be swung about said loop to cause both its arms to clamp the strap against the base-plate.

3. A buckle comprising a base-plate having a bearing on its under side between its ends, a wire loop located in said bearing and having a pintle portion above the upper side of said plate, and a clamping member bent at an angle to provide two arms of which one has a transversely arranged clamping edge, said clamping member having a hinge knuckle in the rentrant angle formed by the two arms to receive said pintle portion ot' said wire loop, substantially as set forth, means being provided for limiting the pivotal movement of' said loop.

l. A buckle comprising two cooperative clamping members and a wire loop connecting them in hinged relation, one of said members comprising a base-plate having a depressed knuckle or bearing and notches in its side edges alined with said knuckle or bearing, said loop being engaged in said knuckle or bearing and having upstanding portions engaged with said notches, and also inturned portions above the base-plate, and the other clamping member having knuckles pivoted on said inturned portions of the loop, the pivotal movement of said loop being limited by said notches.

5. A buckle comprising a base-plate having a hinge knuckle between its ends and on its under side, and also having opposed shoulders on its side edges, a rectangular wire loop engaged in the knuckle, and hav ing upstanding portions located between said shoulders, and also having inturned portions located above the base-plate, and a clamping member comprising a plate bent at an angle to provide an arm with a strapengaging edge and an arm by which said clamping member may be manipulated, said clamping member having at its angle a bearing for the inturned portions of said wire loop, the pivotal movement or' said loop being limited by said shoulders.

6. A buckle comprising two cooperative clamping members, and a wire loop connecting them, said loop extending around three sides of one o'l said members and its ends extending part way across the fourth side,

one of said clamping members having knuckles surrounding the ends of the loop whereby hinged connection is made, the other clamping member having portions surrounding said loop, one of said clamping members having shoulders at its sides for limiting the swinging movement of the wire loop.

7. A buckle comprising two cooperative clamping members, and a wire loop connecting them, each of said members having portions engaging said wire loop in hinged relation, one of said clamping members being adapted to swing about said wire loop and close the clamp, said swinging member having provisions for engaging said wire loop to limit the opening movement, the other clamping member having shoulders at its sides for engaging the loop to limit relative movement between it and the loop.

8. A buckle comprising a base having a relatively broad clamping surface, a clamping member bent at an angle to provide an arm having a strap-engaging edge and an operating arm, and connecting means located between the ends of said base having a hinged connection with said base and having an independent hinged connection with said clamping member at the angle formed by said arms, said Strap-engaging edge being adapted to pass between the two hinged connections and across the plane intersecting the axes thereof when said clamping member is operated.

In testimony whereof I have aHiXed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. MIXER.

I/Vitnesses:

G. L. JOHNSON, P. W. PEZZETTI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

